Category: Articles

Articles1 Comment

Standing Neigong

Steve Rowe

Standing Neigong Several people have today messaged me asking questions about neigong and to explain the benefits and basics of how we do it in our training system. The benefits of Standing neigong are as follows: Good posture Good balance Good rooting An understanding of left/right and upper/lower body harmony Good breathing An aware, focused sensitive and intense mind Emotional intelligence An intuitive understanding of yin and yang The 5 basic postures are: Neutral Upper Yin Upper Yang Lower Yin Lower Yang There is an excellent set of videos called ‘stand still – be fit’ that can be seen here: … Continue reading Standing Neigong

ArticlesLeave a comment

Mindfulness

Steve Rowe

  MINDFULNESS Our use of the word ‘mind’ in English can be quite versatile.  As a noun it describes our awareness, consciousness and thought, as a verb it can mean ‘to take care of’ like in ‘mind the child’ or when getting on a train ‘mind the gap’, so to be ‘mindful’ is to increase our awareness and consciousness and to take care of our thinking and feelings. So we ‘mind the mind’, we take care of it.  All the time we remain mindful, we are watching our thoughts, emotions and actions and this act in itself is life changing. … Continue reading Mindfulness

ArticlesLeave a comment

Back To Front Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

  I think I live in an alternate universe. Or everyone else in the Martial Arts does. I see Instructors putting together their training/grading syllabus… “Erm, for red belt we’ll do this… for yellow this…. for orange this….” They do one set of techniques for basics, different moves in a form that don’t relate to the basics and then different pairs work that doesn’t relate to either basics or form. And I’m like…..”That’s not only back to front – it doesn’t make sense!” I ask, “what’s the end result you’re looking for at black belt and above?” And guess what…. … Continue reading Back To Front Martial Arts

Articles1 Comment

Compassion

Steve Rowe

  Compassion The human race cannot survive without compassion. It’s what joins us, makes us work together to resolve our problems and evolve.  As the World is becoming more insular, as we separate ourselves from and demonise groups of people, becoming inured to their suffering we are evolving in the wrong direction and ensuring our mutual destruction. Compassion is to be able to see clearly into the nature of suffering and not be separate from it.  Compassion is itself untainted, it cannot be attached to an outcome, it’s enemies are pity, moral outrage and fear – it transforms suffering. Meditation … Continue reading Compassion

ArticlesLeave a comment

Winner Or Loser?

Steve Rowe

Winner Or Loser? So many people just don’t get it. If you want to be a winner, you have to learn to win more than you lose. Firstly you have to decide who and what you want to be. If you want to be a good traditional martial artist then you have to do more work in that direction than in any other. It’s your choice. Draw a line in your life and call it ‘Zero’. Every moment you are mindful, in good posture, breathing properly, caring, polite, courteous, determined, resolute, courageous and working with emotional intelligence  you are in … Continue reading Winner Or Loser?

ArticlesLeave a comment

Rules To Live By…

Steve Rowe

Some of Steve Rowe’s Rules Of Life – 1. Don’t make friends easily. 2. ALWAYS work on your mind and perspective 24/7. 3. Always pay your way and live within your means. 4. If you help somebody, do it because it’s right not to make them indebted to you. 5. People you’ve helped will often stab you in the back, don’t let it become your problem. 6. People you’ve taught will often never give you credit – mostly that’s a good thing because that kind of student rarely gets it right. 7. Judge everyone by their actions not their words. … Continue reading Rules To Live By…

ArticlesLeave a comment

Guns, Violent Crime & The Elephant In The Room

Steve Rowe

Every time I look at or read something about guns and violent crime I can’t help thinking about how blind we all are to the ‘elephant in the room’ – let me explain…. My first conscious presents as a child were a toy gun and toy soldiers, the games I used to play with other children revolved around fighting and ‘pretend’ killing, ‘you’re dead’ was the most common phrase. All the entertainment media I’ve ever watched has been around guns, shooting, explosions, fighting, and death. It was an integral part of my culture, I worked in security, I started martial … Continue reading Guns, Violent Crime & The Elephant In The Room

Articles1 Comment

How To Ruin Your Child’s Training

Steve Rowe

Children just love to train.  Most normal children will accept grades and rewards as and when they arrive and are not too concerned by them, their love is to be a part of a club, move their bodies and learn. Wise parents give them the gift of putting them into a good club and letting them experience that unhindered, damaged parents push their children to fulfil their own ambitions and pass that damage onto their children. A good Instructor will only grade when the child is ready, irrespective of a pushy parent and this puts pressure on to the child, … Continue reading How To Ruin Your Child’s Training

ArticlesLeave a comment

Compassion And The Martial Arts

Steve Rowe

In my youth I was arrogant and violent before I discovered the Martial Arts – and as a result of that discovery I also went on to study Buddhism, Zen and Taoism.  It was through these studies that I found compassion.  In hindsight I think that my excitability, arrogance and violence was a result of being ’empathic’ and not knowing how to deal with it.  As an empathic child in a non empathic family and culture where ‘give him a slap’ was the answer to everything in a relationship and as I attended the roughest school in South London where … Continue reading Compassion And The Martial Arts

Articles2 Comments

Fighting Yourself

Steve Rowe

  In the Martial Arts we often talk about how ‘the biggest opponent we have to fight is the one inside of ourselves’ and that ‘when performing solo moves we must have an opponent in mind’ although I think the statements are self evident  I would like to put the two together and give it a bit of perspective. We are most likely to die of ill health. A good part of our health is our sanity and happiness, so emotional intelligence is an essential part or our daily training routine. We know how to do this through meditation and … Continue reading Fighting Yourself